Police Lawsuits, a Land Bank and airport advertising on the agenda
Two lawsuits against Syracuse Police are settled---with efforts at preventing future, similar cases
Syracuse's Common Council has moved on several issues to improve city living and save money:
~Lawsuits. Councilors approved settling two:
>Edward Jones will get $35,000 in settlement of being slammed into a car by a police officer during an arrest last summer.
>Syracuse Police Officer Therese Lore will get $417,000 after charging retaliation after a discrimination lawsuit. She had already received $250,000 from a federal jury.
Councilor at Large Kathleen Joy says the lawsuits are prompting councilors to take another look at how these issues are handled. She says the first step has been toward ensuring these situations don't come up again. The Police Department, she says, is assuring it has new policies and procedures in place. She also plans to ask auditors to review policies in other city departments. As for the payouts, councilors are asking for advice on how to pay, and for larger awards, bonding appears to be the most 'economical' right now, because interest rates are low and Joy says it's better than taking moneys from needed immediate city services, like pothole filling.
~Land Bank. The Common Council has okayed--by a 7 to 2 vote-- the proposal to set up a not for profit to administer the Central NY Property Development Corporation. Onondaga County's Legislature okayed it, last month, after a 5 year's campaign by neighborhood groups. Rich Puchalski, with Syracuse United Neighbors, says 'Hopefully, more owner-occupants come out of this. We hope to see money poured into these neighborhoods, to fix up these houses. They're great big old houses that need a little elbow grease."
The Land Bank is not a done deal, though. A committee, made up of Syracuse and Onondaga County reps who've spearheaded the effort, will write up a formal application to the New York State Department of State, which will choose 5 communities to be demonstration projects. The applications are due March 30th, and so far there's no word on when the decisions will be made.
~Airport Advertising. Councilors approved Hancock Airport's using $25,000 to help Delta Airlines advertise its new non-stop Syracuse-LaGuardia/New York City service. "So what this agreement allows for," says Syracuse Aviation Commissioner Christina Reale, "is for the airport to work with Delta to develop a marketing program to promote the LaGuardia service, and then we will purchase this advertising for them." The money is just being earmarked, so it will not mean more taxpayer dollars being spent. Reale says it's possible Delta will match the grant as well.
